The Russian president signs legislation establishing the same compensations to be paid to all flight crew and air passengers, should they suffer any damage to their life and health in an emergency

MOSCOW, May 23. /TASS/. Russian President Vladimir Putin has signed legislation establishing the same compensations to be paid to all flight crew and air passengers, should they suffer any damage to their life and health in an emergency. The decree making the relevant amendments to the Russian Air Code has been published on the official legal information portal.

Before, crew members were entitled to a mere 100,000 roubles (roughly $1,500), while the compensation to passengers were set at two million roubles (roughly $30,000).

The decree says that the minimum mandatory insurance of a flight crew member shall be one million roubles (before "one thousand minimum wages set by the federal law at the moment of the insurance contract conclusion).

The idea of raising the sum of mandatory insurance of flight crew members to 1 million roubles in order to equalize insurance payments to passengers or their relatives after emergencies was proposed by the chairman of the State Duma’s financial markets committee, Nikolai Gonchar. The amendments were submitted to the State Duma for consideration last November.

After the crash of an A321 liner of the Russian air carrier Kogalymavia over Egypt on October 31, which claimed 224 lives, State Duma members drafted a number of bills for reforming the aviation industry and raising flight safety. Duma member Vladimir Gutenev, of the United Russia party, suggested prohibiting the operation of all planes of foreign manufacture that have been in service for more than 15 years.